Empire: Part II Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Changes Inferno gets closer to Havoc and steps on her stomach, pinning her to the ground. Havoc attempts to grab her sword, but Inferno slams her other foot down on her hand. Havoc screams in pain and Inferno smiles slightly at the pain she’s causing. “Let me go!” Havoc screams, panicking even more than before. Inferno’s body begins to heat up and the purple flames begin to create a silhouette around her body. “Can you feel that?” Inferno says calmly. “That’s the feeling of me melting your insides.” Havoc begins to cry, her tears evaporating as soon as they leave her eyes. “I wonder what will happen when your eyes begin to melt. I bet that’ll be really painful.” “Inferno!” Everest yells. “I know you have a grudge against that girl, but I need you to go help Mark and James! That girl won’t be able to do anything anyway!” Inferno takes her foot off of Havoc and starts to walk away. “I’ll head there right away, Captain,” Inferno says. “And Havoc…you got lucky today. I wouldn’t count on it happening again if I were you.” She keeps walking toward Mark, James, and Picky’s location. She sees them struggling to keep fighting. Mark is on the ground and James is heavily burned. Inferno uses a purple flame jet to quickly reach the others. She intercepts a punch from Ash, absorbing the heat from his attack. “And who the hell are you supposed to be?” Ash asks, jumping back. “Do you guys really need all these people to take me down?” Inferno looks at Ash, disgusted with his attitude. “You know, I’ve had enough with your cocky crew,” Inferno says, lighting her left hand on fire. “I think it’s about time you were taught a lesson.” Ash smiles and a mark appears in his right eye. “Lady, you have no idea who you just challenged.” Havoc “I never expected that woman to be so tough…” Havoc thinks, struggling to get up. “She really wanted to kill me. I can’t risk something like that happening again. It might be better if I just stay here and watch things play out.” She picks up her sword and sheathes it. “Captain, I hope you can handle Everest on your own.” Melle-belle Mel wakes up on an infirmary bed. She looks down and notices that she’s still bleeding. She tears part of the covers off of the bed and wraps them around her wounds. “Did...did Inferno bring me here?” Mel thinks. “Why would she do that after I treated her so poorly?” She gets up and leaves the infirmary. She sees the ship being torn apart by the battles going on. She sees the fight between Ash and Inferno, but almost doesn’t recognize her wife. “Inferno…is that you? How are you still able to fight…?”She thinks. She looks over at the injured Havoc. “Did you beat that woman?” She suddenly hears a crashing noise to her left. Hydra stands with his swords out, shattering Zach. She walks out toward the chaos and begins to create a plasma ball. “I will not stand by and watch everything. I must help everyone.” Inferno Inferno keeps blocking Ash’s moves, leaving the two at a stalemate. Ash uses his lava manipulation to release a wave of lava to come crashing down on Inferno. She dodges the attack, however, and punches the air with immense force, launching Ash backward. She looks behind her and sees Mel walking towards the fight, despite her injuries. Ash takes the opportunity to attack Mel with his abilities. Inferno runs toward Mel and puts up a wall of force, stopping the lava for just enough time to allow their escape. Inferno brings Mel down to the lower level again and gives her a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” Inferno says. “But why did you come out here? You can’t fight in your condition.” Mel looks up at Inferno and begins to cry. “I couldn’t help it,” She replies. “You still helped me after I acted the way I did. So, I felt like I needed to do something.” Inferno gives Mel a quick kiss on the lips and stands up. “You need to stay down here, away from the fighting. When I come back, we’ll talk again.” Mel just nods in response and smiles up at her wife. “I love you, Mel. I promise I’ll be back.” She jumps onto the top deck once more and her body becomes engulfed in a series of different colored flames. “So, did my attack kill that woman, or did you actually get to her in time?” Ash asks, smiling. “You seemed awfully desperate to save her.” Inferno moves so fast that she almost teleports in front of Ash. She pins him down to the ground and punches him with all the force she can create, launching him through every deck of the ship and into the ocean below. He quickly gets back up onto the ship and looks at Inferno, revealing another mark in his right eye. “You’re really pissing me off! It’s about time I end this!” He rushes Inferno but she easily dodges his attacks and kicks him in the face using jet with her new rainbow flames. He flies upward, and then slams back onto the deck of the ship. “You really shouldn’t have targeted my wife, idiot,” Inferno says, pointing her right index finger at the man. “You think that lava of yours is hot? That’s cold compared to these flames.” She shoots a condensed blast of rainbow flame at Ash, causing him to scream in pain. Roy decides to intervene this time and he shoots a large lightning bolt through Inferno, causing her to fall in pain from being electrocuted. “Looks like I was able to suppress her,” Roy says. “If only I could do that to you.” He looks over at Everest, who doesn’t even have a scratch on him. “So, did you really want to fight me too?” Inferno asks, suddenly right behind Roy. “That lightning of yours burned up in my flames. I just pretended to fall so I could get this close. Do I scare you?” She licks the back of Roy’s ear slightly. Roy quickly runs away from Inferno and creates a sword with his lightning. “You’re insane,” Roy says. “You were going to kill two of my crew mates.” “So? Weren’t you planning on doing the same to us?” Roy gets enraged and rushes Inferno. She blocks his attack and kicks him toward Everest, who launches him in the air using an air pillar from below. Inferno and Everest both raise their right hands and their powers combine for a large fireball fueled by Everest’s condensed air. They launch the attack at Roy and impacts with him in midair. His body falls to the ground and he’s unable to get up. “You bastards...” Roy gets out. “You were stronger than us after all.” Havoc runs toward her Captain and picks him up. She runs off of the ship, hoping to get away before they’re actually killed. “You cowards!” Inferno says, about to run after them. Everest stops Inferno and places a hand on her shoulder. “I know that they hurt Mel, but now isn’t the time to get reckless,” Everest says. “We have a crew that needs our help.” “Right, sorry Captain,” Inferno says, calming down.